As the world reopens and transitions toward a post-pandemic era, companies across different industries find themselves back in the war for talent. Recruitment strategies that rely solely on salary as a competitive differentiator to address concerns over rising inflation without looking at the overall employee experience will not find it effective in the mid- to long-term.
Reference checks are no longer conducted by just the employer on a potential candidate. Today, it is de rigueur for candidates to do their own background checks through social media and their personal network, to find out what employees—past and present—are saying about the prospective company’s culture and values, opportunities for development, diversity and inclusion practices, and their day-to-day workplace experience.
Candidates are prioritizing non-monetary factors in their search for a new job, and when deciding whether to accept a job offer. Companies with stronger employer brands experience one to two times faster hiring time, and one in two candidates would not work for a company with a bad reputation—even with a pay increase.1 Over three in four would consider a company’s culture before applying for a job, and more than half say that company culture is more important than salary when it comes to job satisfaction.2 On the flip side, companies with a reputation for a healthy culture experienced lower-than-average turnover during the first six months of the Great Resignation, while a toxic workplace culture was found to be 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting a company’s attrition rate compared with others in the same industry.3
Do you know what your employees are telling the world about your company culture? Do you have a positive workplace culture? Social and digital platforms have projected the employee voice into the public domain; and your employees—both past and present—are brand ambassadors for your company. It is, therefore, now a business imperative to prioritize building a great workplace culture that enables employees at all levels to maximize their human potential and thrive at the workplace.
Great Place to Work® defines a great workplace as one where employees trust their management, take pride in their jobs, and enjoy the people they work with. Our community of Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies have a positive, high-trust culture, put their people first and care for their holistic well-being. And we know this because their employees said so.
Certification is the mark of a great employee experience, and the companies in our Certified™ community have successfully embedded the following elements into their culture:
1. Fairness
- Employees are treated fairly and with respect, regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and position in the company
- Everyone has an opportunity to get special recognition—through both formal and informal platforms including everyday thank yous, and special shoutouts from managers and peers
- Office politics and favoritism are directly addressed and nipped in the bud before they have a chance to flourish
2. Care
- Management shows a sincere interest in employees as individuals, not just an employee
- This is demonstrated in a variety of ways, from ensuring that employees have the right resources and equipment to do their jobs, to celebrating special events together, encouraging employees to balance their work and personal lives, and involving people in decisions that affect their jobs or work environment; they also show appreciation for good work and extra effort
3. Community
- Management and employees express a sense of winning together when times are good, and sticking together when times are tough
- This sense of unity also creates conditions for better employee cooperation within and across different teams
Employees from these companies have validated that they work in a great workplace, where leaders are intentional about shaping workplace culture. They strive to cultivate high trust and have a “people” component explicitly articulated in their values—not because people are needed to get the job done, but because they value and prioritize the people who work there. In these Certified™ companies, values drive everyday interactions and behaviors, and when it comes down to the crunch, hard decisions are made with a people-first philosophy.
Want to tell the world that your company has a great workplace culture? Find out how you can be Great Place to Work®-Certified and be part of this community!
- 2022 Randstad Singapore Employer Brand Research Report.
- Culture over cash? Glassdoor multi-country survey finds more than half of employees prioritize workplace culture over salary, Glassdoor’s Mission & Culture Survey 2019, July 10, 2019.
- Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation, MIT Sloan Management Review, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, January 11, 2022.
Evelyn Kwek
Evelyn is the Managing Director for Great Place to Work®️ in ASEAN and ANZ. Heading the expansion of Great Place to Work®️ offices in ASEAN, Evelyn is convinced that just as the region is growing exponentially on the economic front, the work of building great workplaces FOR ALL™ must go in tandem with economic growth.
A proud mother of 3, Evelyn takes parenting very seriously – she is strict yet giving, result-focused yet generous. Together with husband Roland, they relish exploring new cultures and beautiful places of the world, usually on leisurely self-drive holidays, before the days of Covid.
Pamela Sng
Pamela is our Senior Consultant and Research Lead for Great Place to Work® ASEAN and ANZ. She has over two decades of consulting and policy experience helping organizations in their journey to become fair and progressive employers. She believes that every organization has the potential to be a great workplace, and works with data to distil insights and develop resources to help them. When she’s not burrowing down the rabbit hole of numbers and words, she’s probably immersed in a new K-drama or catching up with friends over a virtual drinks session.
